According to WalletHub, people tend to view retirement as the end of the line – a time for rest and relaxation.

However, the story can sometimes be different for those retiring from military service who have to “reassimilate” back into civilian life.

Especially since most military retirees haven’t hit 50 yet.

“The average officer is only 45-years-old upon retirement from service,” said Jill Gonzalez, analyst for WalletHub.

And some of those who reenter the job market may face tough challenges through their transition into civilian life while others may struggle from other challenges such as post traumatic stress disorder, disability or homelessness.

Therefore, military retirement can be a far more complicated step than one may think.

So, with that in mind, this study sought to compare the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on their ability to provide a comfortable military retirement.

29 different key metrics were analyzed, ranging from veterans per capita to number of Veteran Affairs health facilities to job opportunities.

Three key dimensions were also broken down, those being economic environment, quality of life and health care.

When looking at the different rankings, Florida is found to have rank in the top 10 in three different categories nationwide.

The state ranked the highest in share of population aged 40 & older at 5th place overall, but it also ranked 6th in the number of VA facilities available.

“There’s a good amount of VA benefit administration facilities within the state,” said Gonzalez. “That’s another good thing because people can seek out in-person help.”

Florida is also ranked 13th and 14th out of 51 for veterans per capita and veteran job opportunities, respectively.

The ranking for job opportunities is also due in part to a large number of veteran-owned businesses in the state.

“A lot of these people have to go back into the workforce,” said Gonzalez.

Virginia came in at number one on the list with the District of Columbia landing at number 51.

DC was also locked in a four-way tie for the highest percentage of homeless veterans along with Oregon, Hawaii and California.

The other top five states include Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

]]>43 Suspects ID’d, 22 Arrested In Large Scale Daytona Drug Busthttps://www.newsdaytonabeach.com/wndb-news/43-suspects-idd-22-arrested-in-large-scale-daytona-drug-bust/
Thu, 23 May 2019 23:54:20 +0000http://www.newsdaytonabeach.com/?p=41668Daytona Beach Police Chief Craig Capri along with members of the Daytona Beach Police Department and the State Attorney’s Office announcing the status of Operation Tone Setter(WNDB)

Daytona Beach, FL – Police say they have identified 43 suspects out of 70, with 22 arrested in one day.

And one of those men was arrested not too far from the press conference concerning Daytona’s latest drug bust, as it happened.

Today (May 23rd), Daytona Beach police announced the results of a six-month large scale drug bust known as “Operation Tone Setter,” which targets street-level narcotics dealers working in the “open air,” according to Daytona Beach Police Department’s Public Information Officer, Messod Bendayan.

Bendayan says the operation received the name “Tone Setter” as it’s meant to “set the tone” against those who want to deal drugs in the World’s Most Famous Beach.

“The actions of these defendants directly impacted the quality of life and safety for the citizens of Daytona Beach,” said DBPD Chief Craig Capri.

And the total, as it stands now, is 70 defendants that police have tried to arrest or serve warrants on.

43 of them came today, with 21 in custody originally before DBPD’s announcement today.

But, as DBPD held the press conference, police arrested one of the suspects just down the street on Orange Avenue, according to Chief Capri.

That brought the count up to 22.

12 of those 22 were arrested earlier today, while 10 of them were already in custody when police filed charges.

All but two of them, Kevious Green and Trinity Jones, will face some sort of drug-related charge.

Police say 27 arrests, 24 felonies and three misdemeanors came before today, with DBPD Crime Suppression Team officers making those arrests after executing 11 search warrants.

The majority of the suspects are also convicted felons, with almost all of them having been arrested in the past, excluding one, Jeffrey Ellingham, who was charged with possession of paraphernalia and marijuana over 20 grams.

36 of the suspects are males with seven females in the mix. That’s not including 27 arrested before today, who Daytona Beach has yet to identify.

27 suspects that they have arrested or attempted to arrest are facing cocaine-related charges.

Four of them are also facing heroin-related charges, along with three charges related to synthetic cannabis and two face charges related to cannabis.

Throughout the operation, CST officers have seized almost 700 grams of different drugs during Operation Tone Setter.

That includes:

38.4 grams of cocaine

70.8 grams of heroin

500 grams of marijuana

65.5 grams of MDMA (Molly/Ecstasy)

17 grams of methamphetamine

Also seized was $340 in counterfeit currency, $19,189 in legitimate currency. Seven weapons were also taken by police, three of which were stolen before their recovery.

But the most important thing, according to Chief Capri, was the weapons that were recovered.

“One gun on the street, in the hands of the wrong person, can be devastating,” said Capri. “Can you imagine seven guns out there that can be used against not only the police, but the public?”

Chief Capri also said that there doesn’t seem to be a ringleader involved, seeing as most of those who were arrested were lone street-level drug dealers.

And according to Capri, the Daytona Beach Police Department doesn’t plan to stop here.

“You can put the word out, this is our city, and we’re going to take it back from the drug dealers and the criminals and we ain’t stopping,” said Capri. “If you come here to commit crime, you’re finished.”

You can find the full board with names of those identified in the case below.

Daytona Beach Shores, FL – Daytona Beach Shores Public Safety officers are working the Click It or Ticket campaign. During a routine traffic stop Wednesday, they got more than they bargained for.

Officers stopped 28-year-old in front of Longstreet Elementary School on South Peninsula Drive around 7:10 a.m. While an officer was talking to him, he apologized, put his truck in reverse and took off.

The officer was struck by a side mirror on the truck but wasn’t hurt. Patterson was struck in the neck by the officers stun gun but it didn’t slow him down. He eventually stopped and was arrested without causing more harm.

Patterson, who was driving on a suspended license, remains in the Volusia County Jail facing several charges, including aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer.

At the same time, an officer responding to the traffic stop was involved in a vehicle crash, shutting down A1A for a short time.

Daytona Beach, FL – The company that runs promotions for multiple speedways including Daytona announces that they’ve entered a merger agreement.

Earlier today, the International Speedway Corporation, which sits just across the street from the Daytona International Speedway, announced a $2 Billion deal that will merge them with NASCAR.

That agreement came after a unanimous vote following a special committee meeting comprised solely of independent directors of the Board of Directors.

According to the release from ISC, shareholders and certain related entities will be paid $45 in cash for each share of ISC Class A and B common stock that they own.

In addition, participating shareholders have signed an agreement to cause their respective shares to be transferred to NASCAR prior to the effective time of the merger.

The transaction, which ISC expects to close before the end of 2019, is also conditioned on the approval of a majority of the voting power represented by the shares of ISC stock not owned by the controlling shareholders of ISC.

And, it didn’t take long for some of Volusia leaders to voice their opinions on the matter.

In fact, a couple of them have some very different opinions.

Volusia County Chair Ed Kelley, who was in favor for the vote, said that not only did the sales tax lose, but so did the residents.

“The residents and taxpayers (lost),” said Kelley to WNDB. “We would have had 35 to 40% of the revenue coming in from those (tourists) outside of Volusia County, which certainly would have helped all of the budgets of the cities and the county.”

When it came to breaking down the number of registered voters who participated, only around 28% of the county voted, with over 100,000 votes coming in.

And Kelley believes that there could have been a different result if more voters turned out. He also said if more information had been passed around and there was more time, maybe the sales tax wouldn’t have fallen through.

“I think maybe a different result could have been a larger turnout, with more information and more education,” said Kelley.

Kelley also mentioned that he believes the sales tax could come up to a vote again, maybe even in the 2020 general election.

“We know there would be a huge turnout in 2020,” said Kelley. “Proper education, proper information, eliminate the misinformation that was put out, it might make a difference.

But, one Volusia County leader seemed to think differently than Kelley. In fact, they believed there was no way the tax could have worked in the first place.

Sales Tax special election results are in & it failed. I made it very clear from the beginning that I was not in favor of taxing the citizens to fix a broken system & the rest of the voters of Volusia County have made their voices heard as well. #ListeningToFocusingOnThePeoplepic.twitter.com/kVAtocHQSa

District 4 Councilwoman Heather Post took to social media not long after the results were delivered, saying that she made it very clear from the beginning that she was not in favor of the tax.

She said her reasons were she didn’t believe in taxing citizens to “fix a broken system,” and that it was clear that county voters made their voices heard.

“Leadership needs to stop bulldozing over the citizens,” said Post. “They need to stop and actually listen. Because, last time I checked, this is the United States of America and in a democracy, people have a voice through vote.”

A sentiment that was also felt by Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood.

However, Sheriff Chitwood would probably be the closest one to the middle between a yes and no decision on the sales tax, seeing as he supported it, but he didn’t support the council.

“I agree with everything that everyone said about not trusting the county, and I’m one of their biggest critics,” Chitwood said. “(But) I thought it would be a good thing but, obviously, 55% of the people thought otherwise, and that’s the rule of the day.”

Chitwood was very critical of the council, accusing some members of having no idea what’s happening in the community that they lead.

“We need the kind of people on the county council that will push us forward,” said Chitwood.

It’s still not known if the county plans to push another attempt at the sales tax increase come 2020.

DeLand, FL – Three weeks of voting later, the county has an answer regarding a proposed sales tax increase.

Near the end of the night (May 21st), the ballots for the mail-in half-cent sales tax referendum vote were counted, leading to a couple of different findings.

First, with over 300,000 registered voters in the county, only 103,674 ballots made it back into the department of elections, with 114 of them being blank.

That means only 28% of the county’s voters actually participated in the vote.

But, the biggest part in the countywide election would be the decision on whether or not Volusia would implement a half-cent sales tax. Something that has been in the county’s mind for a while.

City and county officials pushed for the ordinance to go through, with the main reason being that revenue generated by the tax would go towards infrastructure projects that they feel were needed around the county.

However, the decision was ultimately in the voters’ hands.

(Volusia County Elections)

And the voters said no.

A look at the numbers shows that just over 55% of voters who completed and mailed-in ballots rejected the proposed sales tax, while 45% approved.

Some county officials have already weighed in on the results of the election, including Councilwoman Heather Post. She wasn’t in favor of the vote, saying she didn’t support taxing people to “fix a broken system.”

Sales Tax special election results are in & it failed. I made it very clear from the beginning that I was not in favor of taxing the citizens to fix a broken system & the rest of the voters of Volusia County have made their voices heard as well. #ListeningToFocusingOnThePeoplepic.twitter.com/kVAtocHQSa

Tallahassee, FL – Florida lawmakers this month approved a controversial bill that is expected to make it harder to put citizens’ initiatives on the ballot.

The bill (HB 5) would place additional restrictions on gathering the hundreds of thousands of petition signatures needed to reach the ballot. For 2020 ballot proposals, supporters need to submit 76,632 valid signatures to trigger a review by the Florida Supreme Court. If justices sign off on the proposed ballot wording, supporters then would need to submit 766,200 signatures for the measures to go before voters.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign the bill, which, among other things, would prevent petition-gatherers from being paid based on the number of signatures they collect — a change that is expected to drive up costs.

But amid the likely changes, petition signatures have continued pouring into the state Division of Elections in recent weeks, with two initiatives ready for Supreme Court review and others nearing that initial threshold.

Here are seven initiatives to watch in the coming months as petition gathering, Supreme Court reviews and the effects of the new legislation play out:

— UTILITY DEREGULATION: The political committee Citizens for Energy Choices is pursuing a proposal that would overhaul the state’s electric utility industry. In part, the proposal calls for wholesale and retail electricity markets to “be fully competitive so that electricity customers are afforded meaningful choices among a wide variety of competing electricity providers.” The proposal, which faces fierce opposition from state leaders, business groups and utilities, is scheduled for an Aug. 28 Supreme Court hearing. Signature submitted: 250,010.

— MINIMUM WAGE: Led by prominent Orlando attorney John Morgan, the political committee Florida For A Fair Wage is proposing to gradually increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. Under the proposal, the minimum wage would go to $10 an hour on Sept. 30, 2021 and increase by $1 each year until it hits $15 an hour on Sept. 30, 2026. The state’s minimum wage this year is $8.46 an hour. Morgan also led a 2016 drive that broadly legalized medical marijuana. The Supreme Court has not set a hearing date. Signatures submitted: 178,548.

— CITIZENSHIP OF VOTERS: The political committee Florida Citizen Voters is backing a proposal that would change part of the state Constitution that now says, “Every citizen of the United States who is at least eighteen years of age and who is a permanent resident of the state, if registered as provided by law, shall be an elector of the county where registered.” The proposal would change that wording to: “Only a citizen of the United States who is at least eighteen years of age and who is a permanent resident of the state, if registered as provided by law, shall be an elector of the county where registered.” Signatures submitted: 75,413.

— MEDICAID EXPANSION: The political committee Florida Decides Healthcare is pursuing a proposed that would expand Medicaid coverage to many low-income adults who are not currently eligible. Such an expansion is optional for states under the federal Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, and would apply to people whose incomes are up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Numerous other states have expanded coverage in recent years, but Florida lawmakers have rejected the idea. Signatures submitted: 70,539.

— MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION: Though it has received relatively little statewide coverage, a proposal to legalize marijuana for personal use is getting close to the threshold for Supreme Court review. The proposal by the committee Sensible Florida says, in part, “In the interest of the efficient use of law enforcement resources, enhancing revenue for public purposes, and individual freedom, the people of the State of Florida find and declare that the use of cannabis should be legal for persons twenty-one years of age or older.” Signatures submitted: 64,560.

— ASSAULT WEAPONS: Florida lawmakers last year rejected calls to ban assault-style weapons after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The political committee Ban Assault Weapons Now is trying to put the issue on the 2020 ballot. The proposal defines the weapons as “semiautomatic rifles and shotguns capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition at once, either in fixed or detachable magazine, or any other ammunition-feeding device.” Signatures submitted: 51,546.

— PRIMARY ELECTIONS: The political committee All Voters Vote, which is seeking to revamp Florida’s primary-election system, has submitted relatively few signatures. But it is backed by prominent Miami-Dade County health-care executive Mike Fernandez, who contributed $2.25 million last month. Under the proposal, all registered voters would be able to cast ballots in primaries, regardless of political affiliation. The two candidates getting the most votes in each primary would advance to the general election. Signatures submitted: 4,710.

But, FDOT says drivers will need to be aware of this new exit if they are headed to eastbound State Road 400, westbound I-4 and US-92. The new exit will occur farther south than the current ramps.

To accommodate the traffic switch to the new collector-distributor road, the northbound I-95 exit ramp to eastbound SR 400 will be closed from 10 p.m. tonight (May 20th) to 6 a.m. tomorrow (May 21st).

Traffic will be directed to exit onto US-92 and take Williamson Boulveard south to SR 400.

Electronic message boards and signs will also be in place to alert drivers to the new traffic pattern. Drivers who miss the exit will need to travel to LPGA Boulevard and reutrn south using Tomoka Farms Road or Williamson.

Work on the $206 million project is expected to be completed later this year.

UPDATE May 21: The deceased individual located in a wooded lot behind the 200 block of Strawberry Lane has been positively identified as 46-year-old Philip Schultz of Holly Hill. Mr. Schultz had been reported as a missing person by his family on Saturday, May 18, 2019.

The Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet determine an exact cause of death, but no outward signs of foul play were noted

Holly Hill, FL – Police are saying that a foul smell in a wooded area started an investigation after officers found a body.

Holly Hill police say the body was located off of Strawberry Lane just before 6:30 last night (May 19th). Officers responded to the area after getting reports of a foul odor in the area.

The report says that due to the advanced stage of decomposition, the identity of the individual isn’t known at this time.

Investigators say that they’ll be working closely with the Volusia County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the identity and the cause of death.

In addition to the decomposition, investigators also found signs of fire damage on the body, but the cause of the fire and if it contributed to the individual’s death will be determined later in the investigation.